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Chris, Re: the amount of sugar in juice vs. soda. Juice contain mostly a mixture of unprocessed glucose and fructose.
The sugar that are added to a can of soda (mostly sucrose) is anything but unprocessed.
Now, what does that matter one might ask?

Well, our body only have means (ie. enzymes) to handle the right handed versions (as a figure of speech) of the types of sugars (And fats too!). What I mean is, no matter how you try you will never be able to turn and twist your right hand so that it looks like the left hand (all fingers and palm pointing the same way). It's the same with some molecules (that are chiral). The simple sugar molecules that exists are chiral. They come in a left and right handed version. Say that only right handed ones exists naturally (in fruits), then this is what our body can handle. So what happens with the processed (white) sugar? During the refinement a certain percentage transform into the left hand version. Once in our bodies the left hand portion goes to the the liver (instead of being used as fuel in the cells) which transforms it into tri-glycerins (and consequently fat).

What does this mean? Just that the two lumps of sugar in the glass of orange juice are not the same as the same amount in the soda.

Me, I drink a soda occasionally, but I tend to think twice about what I put into my body. (Comes with the profession of being a Ph.D chemist I guess!)

It's also (for comparison) about the amount of sugar in a 12 ounce glass of 100% orange juice.

True. However, one is natural sugar, the other, completely processed. I haven't had a twelve ounce glass of orange juice since I was old enough to know how much sugar it contained, and understand that OJ is as much a poison as it is a medicine... more so should you be drinking it every day.

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Chris Li wrote:

I thought about this one for awhile, but I don't think that I'd even accept that as an excuse from my 12 year old. At 12 years old (let alone however old Seagal and Tyson are) you're plenty old enough to be accepting responsibility for your own actions. If they're surrounding themselves with bad people, well, they chose those people. Whether it was his idea originally or not, Seagal must have gone along with the plan, signed the papers, and so forth. That makes it, in my book, his responsibility.

That was exactly my point; it is his responsibility. However, sometimes it is those that surround celebrities (them's that try to eek a living out of their existence) that come up with these crackpot ideas, and often, in times where contractually they have to do what the marketing team comes up with. The person (these days, really just a product vehicle) might only have a small input on what the final product may look/smell/taste or be like.

Quote:

Chris Li wrote:

That being said, I don't see anything particularly wrong with marketing an energy drink. Martial artists in Japan have been marketing their skills for money for hundreds of years. Sokaku Takeda did it, Morihei Ueshiba did it, why not anybody else?

Hmmm... Not sure I buy that at all in this case, as we are not talking about their skills as martial artist, or boxer. Of course, the only wares you can get from the Takeda or Ueshiba marketing team are peddled by the management team over at Aikido Journal, and if there is a hell they are going to hell because of it.

In this case perhaps the drink is about on par with his martial arts skills of late, perhaps not... I haven't seen him in quite a while, so I can't possibly know for sure. However, when it comes to the drink (or maybe the martial artist) I think you might get more good out of the Orange Juice, and certainly a lot less bad.

God I love sugar. I think I'll go get me a case of Asian Experience, 17 packs of sugar and a straw to snort it. Seriously, who cares if he makes sports drinks, clothing, widgets or whatever. Capitalism and free enterprise are beautiful things and again, I would bet most of you would market different products if you had the means like Take Sensei does. I don't know who he surrounds himself with, so, I don't think it's right to pass judgement on the guy. What makes these people you call "bad" bad? How can you say that without any support, like knowing Take Sensei or who is around him. Anyway, I need more sugar stat!

God I love sugar. I think I'll go get me a case of Asian Experience, 17 packs of sugar and a straw to snort it...

How is anyone supposed to take you seriously when you start off with that?

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an apparent ding dong wrote:

Capitalism and free enterprise are beautiful things and again, I would bet most of you would market different products if you had the means like Take Sensei does.

Yeah. Sure. Right. You forgot to add Jesus to your list... And in all of those cases, more people have died as a result of them then have been saved by them. So what is your point? As for what I would market, I'm working on a line of designer adult diapers so that anyone who is tot tally full of it can be so, not worry about it, and look good while (sh)it streams out of both ends...

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an apparent ding dong wrote:

I don't know who he surrounds himself with, so, I don't think it's right to pass judgment on the guy

That's right, you don't, so who is to say that I am not right? I mean look at what has come out with his name on in in the past four or five years (or more) - care to hold any of it up as a guide by which we should measure Seagal Sensei's worth on some level? I sure hope not, as the downward trend would scare the insider traders on Wall Street. FYI - We are talking about the products, not the man, so please lighten up. I am not judging the man, only his products, and that even at a cursory level.

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an apparent ding dong wrote:

What makes these people you call "bad" bad? How can you say that without any support, like knowing Take Sensei or who is around him.

What makes you think that I don't know anyone around him? I could name a few of them, and tell you how bad they are. So what, it wouldn't prove a thing! As I said, contractually, he may have no choice at all, so by no means is any garbage that may have his name on it be in any way related to him as a person. Of course, it may be directly related to him as a person, but hey, I NEVER SAID THAT ...um, you did.

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an apparent ding dong wrote:

Anyway, I need more sugar stat!

Yeah, more sugar, and your blankey, too? Again, we are talking about the product, not the man, so please lighten up. We don't need to have a flame-war over a bad drink. I would much rather have a nice chat over a good drink, that is if you think Jesus wouldn't mind...

hmmm
i for one AM a fan of steven seagal...i am aware of his faults that everyone is so quickly to bring out
its like they expect this man to be perfect
or they are jealous of his popularity and how he is approaching things..in the end they'd find a million things wrong with him.

aikido is everymans path..there is no right or wrong way..let ppl do what ever the hell they want

Why do people call Seagal Take Sensei? A little off subject, but I'm just curious why people are calling him by two different names? I don't know much about him, so if someone could tell me I'd like to know why.

My point was with regards to the allusion (possible mis-read) that Seagal Sensei took his name as opposed to it being given to him in the manner in which you have agreed we all get them. Of course, neither of us was there, so I do believe we are only wasting our key strokes.

.

I no longer participate in or read the discussion forums here on AikiWeb due to the unfair and uneven treatment of people by the owner/administrator.

Wow!, After reading these posts, I cant believe how much garbage is spouted off time and time again over Seagal Sensei. I mean are we ourselves qualified to put this man or any man under the scrutiny that so many have done to him? I would much rather focus on trying to better myself and work out my rough edges, than worrying about his. As goes for the drink....Well Iono, Ill prolly give it a fair try. Cant judge it until I have tried it. And you never know, it may actually be a lil' better than Red Bull and other drinks out on the market. As with all things,,In time we'll find out. But as I do to all people...I hope the best for his line of products.

I have seen the path beyond thought documentry, and apart from the occasional sycophantic praise of Seagal ("he is the most loving, great, kind blah, blah, blah") it is a cracking watch! The footage of training and randori is truly excellent. They really don't hold back on the randori, they beat the living s**t out of each other it is great to watch! After seeing the links on this thread I'm not entirely convinced by the ads for his power drink though!

My advice is watch the documentry but avoid the drinks like the plague! (unless that's what all the people in the video were on at the time!)

I mean are we ourselves qualified to put this man or any man under the scrutiny that so many have done to him?

Had to respond to this one. Seagal chose to make himself successful in an area where everyone knows both your public and personal life are under constant scrutiny. I fail to believe that anyone is naive enough to think that by becoming an action hero, you will be somehow not be judged, criticized and/or praised by the public at large and especially those who share an obsession with the man (aikido).

All of the negative posts I've read with regard to this man come from his actions within the film industry and well documented "private" life. However, he chose to be a public star and claiming that because his aikido is good, this should mean he is beyond criticism is laughable. Am I qualified to judge? - hell yes, I've bought at least two of his dvds so I'm paying him and I expect customer service (and a decent glossy magazine).

Happysod,
You dont sound to happy to me at all, lol. J/k. The only ponit I ever tried to make was that I see so much scrutiny towards Steven Seagal and towards so many othes all around the globe. I would much rather look for the positves in a man, because it is so easy to only see the negatives. I understand that by being famous that you are obviously subject to more attention being paid towards you then before, but I dont think that automatically makes him "deserve" negative comments towards him. Its an Aikido website, not a moral judging web site.

"When you cease to strive to understand, then you will know without understanding." -- Caine